Halal logos fail to tell shoppers whether animals were stunned

The logo with “halal” in Arabic means the lamb was slaughtered unstunned

Meat from lambs that have had their throats cut without first being stunned is to gain an official “quality standard mark”, without customers being told of their painful deaths.

Vets and animal welfare groups have criticised the plans by the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), saying that shoppers should be aware of whether animals were rendered insensible before slaughter.

The board wants to help to promote halal lamb produced to what it says will be high standards of welfare, slaughter and processing. It proposes to help halal producers to attract customers by using one of two “quality assurance” logos, one for meat from pre-stunned lambs and one for what it describes as “traditionally slaughtered” lambs.